This specification relates to information presentation.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources. For example, video and/or audio files, as well as web pages for particular subjects or particular news articles, are accessible over the Internet. Access to these resources presents opportunities for other content (e.g., advertisements) to be provided with the resources. For example, a web page can include slots in which content can be presented. These slots can be defined in the web page or defined for presentation with a web page, for example, along with search results.
Social networks can permit users to post information about themselves and communicate with other people, such as their friends, family, and co-workers. Some social networks permit users to specify links (e.g., connections or relations) with other users and affinity or lack thereof to certain content or entities. Additionally, social network users may provide descriptions of their interests and disinterests (e.g., what they like or don't like), compose stories, describe their lives, etc. Some users may generate a great amount of content, while other users may generate little or no content. User interests and disinterests can be determined implicitly, such as from user actions, e.g., web pages visited, ads clicked, etc.
Social networking systems can include information about a user's social network connections. For example, the information can identify other individuals that the user has declared as friends, celebrities of whom the user has declared himself a fan or follower, vendors that the user has decided to follow or subscribe, interest groups that the user has placed himself within, and other social connections. Using the social network information, companies can provide improved personalized recommendations and personalized content, e.g., based on the user's interests and various social connections. Content selection algorithms can utilize a user's social network connections to (1) inherit preferences from a user's friends/connections, and (2) propagate or influence the user's friends/connections with preferences associated with the user. In some implementations, the preferences can be based on interests and disinterests of the users, which can be propagated through a social network.